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Has finding the perfect gift in Italy been eluding you? No longer! In Viterbo there is a small enoteca (wine shop) that has the raw materials for you to create great give-aways for virtually any occasion.
Symposium Vini funnels tasty vintages from huge stainless steel vats into new bottles, seals them with a corking machine, making them ready for the creative application of computer technology — designing custom labels for each wine bottle.
For each unique label you can add a photo, famous painting, or drawing with choice words to transform mundane glass containers into personalized presents for birthdays, holidays, dinner parties, and more. (See the custom label for ItalianNotebook below!)
Many local wine shops that once supplied vino sfuso (unbottled wine) went extinct with the advent of stricter European Union food laws, but Symposium Vini adapted and provides a new slant on an old business.
Symposium Vini, Via del Meone 20, Viterbo.
(Photos courtesy of Scott K. Smith, American photographer based in Munich, Germany – sksphoto@photographer.net)
– Contributed by Douglas E. Morris, (see bio), the author of Open Road’s Best of Italy. He has lived in Italy for over ten years and currently resides in Viterbo. You can contact the author through his website: www.TheItalyGuide.com.
Should we expect to see more advertisements from now on?
Since I may not be returning to Italy this year I am so happy a friend turned me onto your site. How is it I wasn’t born there but I feel such a need to go back!?
Sorry, Nancy. I’m happy to learn about these interesting businesses and the history behind them. It’s a part of the whole picture of Italy.
Sounds like a great gift idea, but how does one carry a bottle back to the U.S. with the current restriction on liquids in your carry on. I suppose one could have a case shipped.